Mind Body Health & Politics

Dr. David L. Geisinger, is the 82-year-old author of Kicking It: The New Way to Stop Smoking and Permanently Going The Distance: Finding and Keeping Lifelong Love, written with his life partner, Dr. Lonnie Barbach.Dr. Howard I. Levene – 85-year-old former Commander and medical officer in the U.S. Navy – is founder of Diabasis House, and a faculty member at the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco and Department of Psychiatry, UCSF Medical School. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

This week we speak with Jeremy Narby, author and anthropologist, on botanics and biology and their applications in psychedelic therapy. He has written several books including "Plant Teachers" and "The Cosmic Snake" as well as co-authored "The Psychotropic Mind".Jeremy grew up in Canada and Switzerland, studied history at the University of Canterbury, receiving a doctorate in anthropology from Stanford University. Jeremy spent several years living with the Ashaninca tribe in the Peruvian Amazon, cataloging indigenous uses of rainforest resources.Jeremy has worked since 1989 as Amazonian projects director for the Swiss non-profit Nouvelle Planète, backing projects for the self-determination of Amazonian indigenous peoples that involve land rights, primary education, village health, botanical knowledge, fish farms, tree nurseries, and other local initiatives. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

This week I pivot from my exploration of psychedelic medicines to a new discussion on racial justice with Brendan Kiely, author of the New York Bestseller All American Boys. Brendan has also authored Tradition, The Last True Love Story, and The Gospel of Winter. His most recent book, and the topic of today's show, is The Other Talk: Reckoning with Our White Privilege. His work has been published in over a dozen languages, and has received the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award, the Walter Dean Meyers Award, and ALA’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults.A former high school teacher, he is now on the faculty of the Solstice MFA Program. He states that he watches too much basketball and reads too many books at the same time, but most importantly, he lives for and loves his wife and son. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

This week I continue my exploration of psychedelic medicines with Dr. Kile Ortigo, author of "Beyond The Narrow Life: A Guide For Psychedelic Integration and Existential Exploration".Dr. Ortigo a licensed psychologist in California with over 14 years of clinical experience and a passion for applying psychological concepts and scientific principles to improving experiences of individuals seeking mental health care, psychotherapists, and others with a desire to improve their life course. His clinical approach is integrative, collaborative, evidence-based and flexible to the needs and goals of the individuals with whom he works. He believe the therapeutic relationship is the key vehicle that can help people explore their innermost selves more freely and openly in order to make important shifts in their approach to life. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

Susan Campbell, Ph.D. is a counselor and author of 12 books. When she was a professor at UMass Amherst in the 60’s and 70’s, she co-founded an alternative counseling and education center for university students seeking to integrate their psychedelic experiences and avoid bad trips and confusing after-effects.The methods she pioneered then are still a major part of her practice today and are considered state-of-the art in psychedelic therapy. Susan trains coaches and therapists throughout the United States and Europe. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

Dale has been the state director of California NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) since 1987. He wrote his PhD dissertation at Stanford on Consumer Choice and FDA Drug Regulation. He was one of the original co-authors of California's medical marijuana initiative, Prop. 215, in 1996, and has co-sponsored and lobbied for other drug reform measures. He has published original research on medical marijuana, the history of marijuana and drug prohibition, the economic benefits of legalization, marijuana and driving safety, cannabis vaporization, CBD, and drug urinalysis. He is a founding member of the Drug Policy Forum of California. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

John Gilmore is a computer engineer, computer entrepreneur, civil libertarian, drug policy reformer, and philanthropist. He has thirty years of experience in the computer industry, including applications programming, systems programming, language implementation, management, and investment. He was the fifth employee at Sun Microsystems, and contributed to hardware and software design and production. He co-designed the protocol that your phone or laptop uses every day to get when you connect to WiFi or Ethernet. He has contributed significantly to the worldwide free software movement, by writing many free programs, and co-founding Cygnus Support, a successful commercial free software company that is now part of IBM. He cofounded the "alt" subnet of the Usenet decentralized world forum to improve its free expression. He is a champion of civil liberties, a cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and a cypherpunk, an advocate for wide distribution of strong encryption systems, to provide privacy and

This week I continue the series with my old friend, Dr. Martin H. Goodman. Marty graduated from Harvard with a BA in biology in 1971, before receiving his MD from the University of California at San Diego.He worked at the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in the 1980s and volunteered taking care of people having "bad trips" at rock concerts under the auspices of their "rock medicine" section. Marty has been a life-long fighter for social justice, and is an advocate for educating the public in the scientific method, and using evidence-based reasoning when it comes to matters of medicine and science. He is also a mountaineer (often in remote desert regions), backpacker, river rafter, long-distance cyclist, and life-long environmentalist.Marty is a self-described "iconoclast," who has rejected the politically correct tropes of both the "right" and of the "left". He first used LSD over 50 years ago. Always with a friend, and more often than not in an outdoors (often genuinely wilderness) environment. This is a

This week I continue my series of Confessions of the Psychedelic Elders (please subscribe and review) with an old acquaintance (and neighbor of mine in Mendocino County) – Mariavittoria Mangini, PhD, FNP. Mangini is the author of the forward for the newly released volume of Sasha Shulgin's pharmacology lectures: The Nature of Drugs, and has written extensively on the impact of psychedelic experiences in shaping the lives of her contemporaries. Her particular interest is in the history of women in this field. In addition to her personal confessions, she will be telling us about her upcoming doctoral class at the California Institute for Integral Studies this fall on women and psychedelics.Mangini has also worked closely with many of the most distinguished investigators in this field and is a founder of the Women’s Visionary Council, a nonprofit organization that supports investigations into non-ordinary forms of consciousness and organizes gatherings of researchers, healers, artists, and activists

This week, I take a break from the Confession of the Psychedelic Elders series to bring you an interview with my dear friend Rabbi Sydney Mintz. The topic of our conversation will be what it means to call oneself Jewish. We will also discuss how Judaism has shaped her identity as a human being, a mother, and a lesbian.Rabbi Mintz (she/they) was ordained in 1997 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. She is the founder of the award-winning Late Shabbat Young Adult Program at Congregation Emanu-El where she has served as Rabbi for almost 25 years. She became a Senior Rabbinic Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem after completing her fellowship in 2004 and serves on the National Board of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice.She is a graduate of Bend the Arc’s Selah Leadership Program, is a member of the U.S. State Department’s Working Group on Religion and Social Justice, and serves on Reimagine’s 360 Advisory Council.In 2018, Rabbi M

Richard Elliot Doblin (born November 30, 1953) is an American drug activist and executive who is the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

Join us today on another stimulating episode of Mind, Body, Health, and Politics! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

This morning we are flipping the script, as Philosopher Charles Bush solicits my own personal confessions as a psychedelic elder.Don't miss my own story, as I officially join our growing tribe of elders – this morning at 9 am PACIFIC.If you miss the live program, be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and leave us a 5-star review in Apple podcasts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

My guest this morning is Countess Amanda Feilding – the Founder and Executive Director of the Beckley Foundation – widely recognized as a leading force behind the current Psychedelic Renaissance.Born in 1943, Countess Feilding is the youngest child of Basil Feilding, great-grandson of the 7th Earl of Denbigh and the Marquess of Bath, and his wife and cousin, Margaret Feilding.She has propelled the field forward over the last 20+ years, spearheading studies such as the world’s first psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression study (on which Compass Pathways based their business), the world’s first LSD, MDMA and DMT brain imaging studies, plus the initiation and collaboration with Johns Hopkins on the first study using psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to overcome nicotine addiction. She has also co-authored over 80 research papers. Since 1998, the Beckley Foundation has been at the forefront of exploratory research into psychedelics, and evidence-based global drug policies. Through h

Several years ago I had the privilege of interviewing Tim Scully and Michael Randall – two men who were pivotal in the founding of the entheogen-using church known as the Brotherhood of Eternal Love.Tim Scully, the chemist behind the production of the organization's LSD supply, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. An accomplished scientist before his prison term, Scully (pictured, in prison, above) spent his time in prison helping design and build biofeedback and interface systems for the non-vocal handicapped. He also received a Ph.D. in psychology from the regionally accredited Humanistic Psychology Institute in 1979. Following the reduction of his sentence to ten years, he was released from prison on parole in August 1979. Michael Randall, a co-founder of the Brotherhood, refers to LSD as a "sacrament." It became his mission to help "turn on" as many people as possible, so they could share the life-changing experience he had with LSD in 1963 for the first time.Their story was so rich and full of impo

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This morning I am honored to continue my series of "Confessions of the Psychedelic Elders" with Françoise Bourzat.Francoise Bourzat holds a MA in Somatic Psychology from New College of California (San Francisco, 1990). She was trained in the Hakomi Method by the Hakomi Institute of California (1991). She is an adjunct faculty in the East West Psychology Program at CIIS. Since 1987, Francoise has apprenticed with shamans and healers in the U.S. and Mexico. In the last 20 years, she has traveled with groups to Mexico, incorporating her counseling practice experience with her knowledge of expanded states of consciousness where she partners with Mazatec healers in Sacred Mushrooms ceremonies.She also leads workshops in the U.S, France, Lebanon, and Israel, and was recently interviewed on the Tim Ferriss Show – often the first ranked of hundreds of thousands of podcasts – which will be released this week as well.Of her book, Ferriss writes: “This book is brand-new, but I’m already on m

This week I continue my series of psychedelic elder confessors with the great Dennis McKenna – author of the classic book, The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss: My Life with Terence McKenna.Dennis, the younger brother of Terence, was featured in my previous book, Psychedelic Medicine, discussing the plant medicine known in South America as ayahuasca – a potent rain forest concoction containing the active ingredient DMT.McKenna has conducted research in ethnopharmacology for over 40 years, and our last interview focused on the science of this fascinating substance. However, this recent interview focuses more on Dennis's personal experiences in academia and industry as he gradually found his present niche as a writer, researcher, teacher, and advocate for the study of mind-altering plant medicines.He is a founding board member of the Heffter Research Institute, and was a key investigator on the Hoasca Project, the first biomedical investigation of ayahuasca. He is also the younger brother of Teren

This week I continue my series of psychedelic elder confessors with my old friend Charles Bush – Philosopher, Educator, and former Executive Director of the Redwood Senior Center in Fort Bragg, California.Charles Bush has lived on the Mendocino Coast for nearly four decades. Before coming to the Coast, he managed large residential service operations on college campuses. He co-founded Mendocino's successful and long-lived Community School. He retired from his position as director of Chamisa Mesa School near Taos, New Mexico, and became the Executive Director of the Redwood Coast Senior Center, where he served for several years.I've interviewed Charles on my program before about how the philosopher encounters the world through the intermediate organs of perception, including the mind. We have explored how the stories that we weave influence our experience. This morning, we will discuss how meaning is created over the course of a lifetime, investigating the boundary between the mind and physical reality, a

For decades, the public perception of psychedelics has been skewed by a pervasive stereotype about their users. To debunk this myth, I am showcasing real-life stories of accomplished professional and scholarly individuals willing to "come out" about their experiences. My guest this morning, Professor Chris M. Bache, is the poster child for this growing tribe of distinguished psychedelic elders.Bache is professor emeritus in Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University, where he taught for 33 years. Classically trained in the philosophy of religion at the University of Notre Dame, Cambridge, and Brown University, he recognized early in his career that psychedelics represented a major turning point in Western philosophy.Convinced that the deepest contributions to his discipline would be made by philosophers speaking out of an experiential rather than just theoretical basis, he divided his life into two streams: In public, he became an academic in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Stu